Merge Core and SOAP Binding specs (SOAP, substantive)

The current split between Core and SOAP Binding specifications makes the
combined result difficult to read and comprehend and doesn't seem to
help separate abstraction from a concrete binding.  For example:

- The Core contains examples using SOAP, even the Core is supposedly
independent of SOAP.

- XML representations for the abstract properties are defined in the
Core, even though these representations are used as SOAP headers.

- Conversely, if you were looking for a concrete definition of a WS-A
SOAP header, you would not find it in the SOAP Binding spec.

- The definition of the wsa namespace is split between documents,
implying that versioning of these two specs must be held in lockstep,
further implying that they really are a single spec published as two
parts.

- There's lots of redundancy between Core and SOAP boilerplate.

To alleviate this confusion and simplify the spec, we request that the
SOAP Binding specification should be merged back into the Core.  Since
they are on the same timeline and have the same status (Rec track),
there should be minimal process issues.

We are willing to develop a concrete proposal to facilitate this, but
the general idea is to insert sections 2-6 of the SOAP spec as divisions
of a new Section 4 in the Main spec, and merging introductory and
bibliographic material as necessary.  Some consolidation or
specialization of the Security Considerations might also be
contemplated.

Received on Tuesday, 12 April 2005 21:03:57 UTC